RECENT UPDATES:

1.) My simple explanation of SOPA:

Scenario One: Brenda Benson brings a burned CD to school one day because she wants to share the music with her friends. The teacher says she must use her own discretion because sometimes the school board doesn't like that she can bring in music without permission. One day the school board finds out that she brought music in to share and they punish her and ask the teacher to crack down more on his students.

Scenario Two:Brenda Benson brings a burned CD to school one day because she wants to share the music with her friends. The teacher says she must use her own discretion because sometimes the school board doesn't like that she can bring in music without permission. One day the school board finds out that she brought music in to share. Instead of punishing Brenda for bringing in the music, the school board shuts down the entire school even though Brenda was the only one at fault.

What this is all about:

The IP Act (S.968 - PROTECT IP Act of 2011) establishes a system for taking down websites that the Justice Department determines to be "dedicated to infringing activities." The DoJ or the copyright owner would be able to commence a legal action against the alleged infringer and the DoJ would be allowed to demand that search engines, social networking sites and domain name services block access to the targeted site. In some cases, action could be taken to block sites without first allowing the alleged infringer to defend themselves in court. The PROTECT IP Act would allow copyright owners  movie studios and other content providers  simply to accuse a website of infringement, which could lead to that site being shut down by court order and entire links to the site being wiped clean from the Internet. The bill is so poorly written that it would allow any copyright owner to shut down a legitimate retail website, such as Amazon or Best Buy, by alleging that one product being sold on the site could "enable or facilitate" an infringement. It could even allow any content owner to block access to the Patent Office website if it receives and posts a patent application for a product that is believed to use content without permission. The PROTECT IP Act will hurt American innovation. This bill will give one side the power to put the other side out of business and this is dangerous beyond words.

Popular Sites That Are At Risk:

FacebookYoutubeVimeoMyspaceTwitterDeviantARTFlickrGoogle

Any website is at risk if it is hosted in the USA. If you visit these sites which I know you do because you guys are on here and you post Youtube videos quite often, then you should be worried. You should be upset. You should be telling everyone you know about this and making sure they understand the severity of what will happen.

CALLING AND WRITING IS BETTER THAN E-MAILING AND SIGNING ONLINE PETITIONS BUT TAKE A MINUTE OR TWO TO DO THAT AS WELL.

If you live in the USA

Call your represenatives and senators and politely tell them that this is NOT okay. E-mail, share information to social media sites, post and do what you can RIGHT NOW. Call the local newspapers and TV stations.

If you live elsewhere

Post to your journal, make a news article, share links from those sites I listed on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Youtube, Live Journal and where ever else you can. E-mail people. Get the word out. Tell any Americans you know that this is bad and they need to speak to their representatives about it. NOW.

I know it from russian wiki... i have done some thing like tell about it in twitter, vkontakte, mail.ru and everywhere I can addnow think to sign a petition that suggested wikiDamn, I love wiki, if it is closed....

This is absolute bullshit. The internet is the ONLY thing I have to keep me away from my bitch mother, and the ONLY way I can express myself. Now some stupid uptight politicians and their hollywood lackeys are trying to take it away. What? no. Just no. Fuck this shit.

Keep passing around sites and other information to anyone you can. Even those in other countries. I'm in Canada and all I can do is get the word out. Make sure middle aged people understand this even. It seems like the younger tech savvy generation gets it. Getting the word out to everyone is best though.

Anything is better than nothing.I'm normally against people changing their profile pictures to promote a cause ( because it doesn't do much ) but I feel like this is different. Not enough people are aware or they don't understand what it's about. They might hear piracy and agree with it because 'stealing is bad'

agreed (especially with the first part because it's all "Omfg support a cure for cancer or diabetes" when I have a benign tumor that's causing hormonal problems and hyperinsulinemia and noone gives a shit because they're not as well known/not fatal and shit like that, even though they cause pain and suffering too)

I for one, believe that this bill has NOT been shelved, only hidden from the press.

If this bill lasted for as long as it did with little to NO media coverage, don't you think that they would make a public statement claiming that they will look at it later???

Politicians are the scumbag of the earth if they think they can pass this thing without the People's consent.

I will not be using the internet tomorrow. If my teachers tell me to, I will let them know exactly what this is about. Word needs to get out. Why is this bill even being considered??? Have we all forgotten our roots? What does this country stand for if not freedom??